A lot of people have been talking lately about recreation due, in large part, to the upcoming supervisor’s elections.

The Natchez-Adams County Recreation Commission is very pleased this is a forefront issue. However, it seems that a few points have been blown out of proportion.

Many people are concerned that in order to bond the $5,450,000 the county would have to increase ad valorem taxes. However, that is not part of the plan that the NACRC laid out. At this point, the county will retire $1,100,000 in debt service over the next year, and several mills will be left not servicing any debt.

The county has already reassigned a few of those mills to the road resurfacing project that is under way, and we are asking them to do the same thing for recreation. By reassigning two mills to service the debt we will be able to bond the recreation complex without any additional investment from taxpayers.

That being said it doesn’t mean that taxes may not go up in the future. But if taxes do increase it will be because a number of other issues in our county, not recreation.

So what happens next? At this point, the county is having their bond rating reviewed by Moody’s and we are waiting to see how that comes out.

The county is cautiously optimistic that it will be upgraded. We are also working to structure a bond program that will achieve the above mentioned plan.

Once this happens it will be left up to the Adams County Board of Supervisors, the Natchez Board of Aldermen, and the Natchez-Adams School Board to either adopt the plan that the NACRC laid out or amend it and then adopt their own.

In recent months we have been blessed with other great announcements such as the addition of Elevance and Enersteel.

In addition, Vidalia has broken ground on their recreation complex. Good things happen in groups, and it is great to see so much happening in our community. Wouldn’t it be great to add the recreation complex that we have talked about for so long to the list of exciting new projects going on in Natchez?

It has been more than 50 years since community seriously looked at recreation in Adams County, and it is time for us to step back and realize that times are changing, and we need to improve our offering.

The wheels of progress often grind slowly, but as long as they are turning we are moving forward.

We are fortunate to be in this position, and I would like to thank the county, city, and school administrations for getting us here. I hope the current administrations see the value in recreation and are willing to work together to help Natchez and Adams County move forward.

Tate Hobdy is the chairman of the Natchez-Adams County Recreation Commission.